'Backrooms': At age 20, YouTuber directs two Oscar nominees in horror films he created at 16

If it's bad for you, imagine it for Kane Parsons' cousins. At 20 years old, the YouTuber makes his Hollywood debut with the horror film "Backrooms: A Non-Place", which hits Brazilian cinemas this Thursday (28) - with the real possibility of topping the American box office in its release weekend. during the period in the United States. What should be a record for the independent studio A24 - one of the most popular in Hollywood in recent years.
To reach the milestone, "Backrooms" combines two Oscar-nominated actors, Chiwetel Ejiofor ("12 Years a Slave") and Renate Reinsve ("Sentimental Value"), to adapt the series created by the director on YouTube based on an internet urban legend - or "creepypasta", as young people say.
Just the first video, published in 2022 when Parsons was 16 years old, it got 20 million views in two weeks. Currently, the number reaches 78 million - and there are 22 chapters in total. With durations ranging from less than 2 minutes to more than 45, few have been viewed less than a million times.
The filmmaker - also known as Kane Pixels on the platform - says that debuting as a filmmaker precisely with a story that he dominates so much helped him not to be intimidated when it came to directing the recordings.
"I can totally recognize how absurd this situation is. And I asked to be in it", he says, in an interview with g1.
"I know how to build this world. I'm very I'm familiar with 'Backrooms' and I definitely don't have any kind of creative confusion. So it was more a matter of just communicating what I want, in a very normal way."
Watch the trailer for 'Backrooms: A Non-Place'
The yellowed photo at the beginning of it all
The filmmaker considers "Backrooms" as a kind of continuation of his series. In it, it portrays the encounter of the frustrated owner of a furniture store (Ejiofor) with the "non-place" of the subtitle - an extradimensional space with rooms decorated in a slightly corporate way, one weirder than the other, accessed by those who accidentally leave reality.
The inspiration for the two works comes primarily from a photo, published in an online forum in 2019, of an office room with yellow wallpaper and carpet on the floor. The strangeness of the image motivated the collective creation of an entire mythology about these "back rooms". "Backrooms", in English.
Attracted by this urban legend, Parsons generated the first video practically alone, with the help of 3D modeling programs - and some friends, who appear at the beginning.
To disguise the imperfections of someone who was just starting out in this world and the limitations of his equipment, he put together a narrative with a first-person perspective, as if filmed by an old videocassette camera.
Kane Parsons, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve at the launch of 'Backrooms: A Non-Place'
Todd Williamson/Disclosure
'Flooded' by interest
Within a month, he began to "being inundated" by emails from people interested in a possible adaptation.
"I was very skeptical about what could happen, because I didn't know anything about these people, and I don't know anything about the industry," says Parsons.
With the help of the production companies of directors James Wan, of "Saw" (2004) and "The Conjuring" (2013), and Shawn Levy, of "Deadpool and Wolverine" (2024), he teamed up with screenwriter Will Soodik ("Ash. vs. Evil Dead") to reach the draft sent to A24.
Responsible for praised horrors such as "The Witch" (2015) and "Hereditary" (2018), as well as Oscar-winning dramas such as "Moonlight" (2016) and "Everything in Everywhere at Once" (2022), the independent studio agreed to the partnership.
"The idea was to find a version of the film that would work for new audiences and for fans of my series," says the filmmaker.
"It wasn't the version we ended up doing, but they gave us a lot of freedom, in a way that I really appreciate."
Kane Parsons talks to Chiwetel Ejiofor on the set of 'Backrooms: A Non-Place'
Asterios Moutsokapas/A24 via AP
'If You Want to Be Seen'
Parsons may be young, but he's not exactly new. He becomes part of one of the The fastest growing groups in Hollywood - YouTubers who became filmmakers after gaining notoriety on the video platform. Among them, it is possible to list names like David F. Sandberg ("Shazam!"), Danny and Michael Philippou ("Talk to Me") and Curry Barker, whose "Obsession" has impressed the industry since its debut in mid-May. With a budget of less than US$1 million, the horror has already made more than US$90 million around the world. world.
Mark Fischbach, Markiplier, stands out a little from the rest for having financed and distributed - and directed, co-written and starred in - "Iron Long: Ocean of Blood" out of his own pocket. A risky bet, but one that netted him US$50 million in early 2026.
For Parsons, the trend has more to do with the showcase offered by YouTube than with any kind of common language
"I think it's more chance than anything else. thing," he says.
"There isn't a place for everyone who wants to do something in Hollywood, so if you want to get a deal with a more well-known studio, or distribute a film, it's not like you can just snap your fingers."
For young people, the platform serves as an entry point, where creators can focus on their own projects and get the attention of big companies.
"It probably has less to do with YouTube itself. The fact is that everyone is on the internet and, if you want to be seen, you have to put your stuff online."
Chiwetel Ejiofor in a scene from 'Backrooms: A non-place'
Disclosure

Source: G1